Went as far as they would allow us to go. The hike itself isn't anything special but the views and peak itself are pretty cool! Lots of history and the crater is awesome. Definitely worth it if you're in the area; we visited Pompeii right after.

I've long been interested in this mountain. Was worried about all the politics/fees/regulations surrounding this peak, but if you head to these parts expecting and planning to run into the inevitable hiccups, it's not so bad.

Lucky for us, weather was crap (10 meter visibility, wind and fog), so when the coast was clear, I just hopped the little rope and jogged the ~10 mins from the tourist trail to the highpoint of the crater rim and back. No big deal in such weather, however I can see it being cruxy if it's sunny, as you gotta sneak right above the little souvenir hut that's located just below the crater rim, and you would be very visible the entire time. Who knows if the people manning the hut would even care.

Either way, a world famous, historical, and naturally beautiful mountain, which makes it all worth it. To bad about all the red tape headaches surrounding it, but it's Italy, what else can you expect.

Walked from the parking lot up to the rim. Barricades prevented a complete circular route, but walked the length of what was allowed. No steam whatsoever, but great views of Naples and the bay area. Lots of tourists unable to make the complete walk to the rim hanging out at the lower gift shop!

My husband and I dressed and geared up for an off the tourist road hike to the summit of Vesuvius. We got about 2/3 of the way up and were turned around by Civil Guard. Needless to say, we needed to take the regular tourist route.

Hiked from the parking lot to the rim. At this time, it was possible to go almost all the way around the crater rim. Fumaroles were quite active. Two things about Vesuvius impress. First is the way it dominates the landscape -- Naples and everything below are toast if the volcano pops its cork again. The second is how much smaller today's volcano is than the one that buried Pompeii and Herculaneum. The remains of the ancient crater can still be seen and give you a sense of the force of the 79 AD blast. That said, for a first hand experience of nature's explosive power, you can't beat Mount St. Helens.

Hiked tourist trail. No high-point. A little bit of steam as in the May 2011 report. Pretty much a zoo of a tourist place. Still, it's Vesuvius. A very popular and unique peak. Nice crater. I wish the Italian National Park Service would do more to add nicer trail options, campgrounds etc. Get the souvenier stands off the crater rim. They are vulgar.

With my wife - we did the tourist thing and walked up to the crator rim - and got caught (unlike Gimpilator) trying to sneak off the path to the highest point. But we had a pleasant stroll round the 'allowed' area. Sobering to think what this mountain had caused - and may yet do in the future, when the overdue next eruption comes...

I was told by my late parents that I was carried up Vesuvius as a babe in arms sometime in 1961, when there was a chair lift to the top - and then just a mere 16 years after the last eruption.

I snuck off of the tourist trail and cut straight up to the summit. From there I did a full circular traverse of the rim top. Vesuvio is an amazing volcano with a very deep caldera. With the exception of Tambora and Krakatoa it is estimated that Vesuvius has claimed more lives than any other mountain on earth.

Nice Easy climb. When you reach the top. There's a great view. If you look hard enough, you can see the city of Pompeii, but its very small and hard to see. When I climbed it, there was many steam vent at the top releasing moister and such. Very cool!

I almost had an epic on Vesuvio! I was solo backpacking and got bored in Rome so I caught 2 trains to Pompeii. I got off at the wrong spot and couldn't read the signs. I thought there would be a campground at Vesuvius (as it is a national park) so I walked towards it. At 12:30 at night some guy randomly pulled over and offered me a ride to the campground. When we got to where it used to be it no longer existed! He then offered to let me stay in his workshop. We got back then went to a friend of his' pub and drank beer and ate panini (at 1:30am)! The next day he drove me to where he knew there was a trail her ode his horse up to the top. It was gates shut though so he took me to a hole in the fence farther along. For some reason I had only 1L of water and it was 37 degrees celcius. It was too hot to hike so I decided to read during the day and hike in the cooler night. I did that and hiked until 2 am. Then I was tired and thirsty so I decided to just bivy as I had all of my gear with me (I had been backpacking and climbing for 3 weeks). I woke up in the night because ants were biting all over my legs. I turned on my headlamp and there was a scorpion next to me! I freaked out and rolled over and it ran under my sleeping bag. I grabbed my shoe and eventually squished it. Then I zipped my back right up and slept till morning. When the sun rose I looked beside me and there was another scorpion! At this point I gave up on summiting and just hiked down. There is so much garbage in the park, it is disgusting. People seem to just dump tires and things everywhere in the non-touristy bits. Eventaully I got back to town and drank about 7L of water! The views were beautiful from higher up. It was an exciting time!

My wife Theresa and I hiked up Vesuvius while we were on Honeymoon in Sorrento. We had visited the city of Pompeii earlier that day, so it was a humbling experience to look down into the still smoking crater, and imagine the force behind the destruction of that area all those many years ago. It was a little cloudy that day, so we didn't get to see the view, but it was still a very rewarding experience.

With Fred. Was fun - although I hardly consider this a real mountain, given the development. One takes the bus to the parking lot and hikes less than an hour to the highest point allowed. The bus ride down was scarier, because the driver let a friend of his, who had never driven a big bus, drive! He almost did not make the first curve. In return, they took us directly to Herculaneum - way more neat than Pompeii.

Since this volcano last erupted at the end of World War II, another more disastrous Pompei event can only be in the making.